It happened on January 2, 1972. Eight armed men stole $28 million in cash and jewels from vaults at New York’s Hotel Pierre.
But it’s back in the news. Nick “The Cat” Sacco — the last robber alive — is writing a book that’s been optioned for a movie. Yesterday’s New York Post had all the breathless details.
Baroness von Langendorff (Photo/New York Social Diary)
The “06880” connection is that the most valuable item was a $750,000 diamond necklace owned by Baroness von Langendorff. She’s the 2nd wife of Baron Walter von Langendorff, founder of Evyan Perfumes, and former owner of Westport’s Winslow Park and the eponymous Baron’s South property on Compo Road.
The baron’s 1st wife died in 1968.
According to the baron’s 1983 obituary, he “often took a blended formula to his country home in Westport, Conn., to smell it away from the air pollution of the city.”
He died in his suite at the Pierre. That’s where he lived with his 2nd wife, the former Gabriele Lagerwall — she of the $750,000 necklace.
It ended up in the hands of a Detroit mobster — who was an FBI informant. That led to arrests of 2 of the robbers (though not Sacco, who entered the witness protection program).
Turns out, baroness #2 still lives at the Pierre.
The baroness is quite a social presence. (Photo/Daily Mail)
Another New York Post story, from 2 years ago, told the tale of “dirt-poor Nepalese relatives of late Manhattan fashion legend Shail Upadhya (who) are scraping together their meager belongings — even selling off land — to finance a battle against an evil European baroness who swooped in and made off with the designer’s $5 million fortune, according to their lawsuit.”
(It’s complicated. Click here for details.)
The Post — which describes the baroness as a “buxom red-haired widow” — notes that before marrying the Austrian chemist who created White Shoulders perfume, Gabriele was “admired and pursued by some of the richest, most powerful men in the world, including Averell Harriman.”
Several years ago, New York Social Diary described her this way:
{The baroness] is easily spotted in any crowd, gilded or no because of her tall and tumbling flaming tresses, her satin and/or taffeta evening dresses, and above all, her famous milkmaid complexion — and above above all, her ensembles of astonishing jewels. Which are always in ample supply, generous weight, high lustre, and, in short, unbelievable on sighting.
The baroness is one of those individuals of indeterminate youth and age, to put it politely, whose legend, long having departed reality, provides a rich lore that may be more enticing than the facts (although maybe not). Her presence reflects a New York that is almost entirely a memory, where women were placed on pedestals (albeit, if temporarily) as birds of paradise, living paeans to glamour and luxurious living, to be adored, and above all, worshipped….
The baroness still wears plenty of jewels. (Photo/New York Post)
She has resided at the Pierre for many years now, and spends weekends at her estate on the North Shore of Long Island where when she entertains at dinner, the men wear black tie and the women of course wear long dresses and jewels. In the summertime, she leaves these shores for Monte Carlo in July and August.
I guess we won’t be seeing baroness von Langendorff in Westport again soon. We’ll just have to settle for the New York Post.
(For the entire New York Social Diary story, click here. For more on the baron’s Westport property, click here.)